History of the M.E. Church, Vol. III - Media Sabda Org

General Conference. But Lee, who had stoutly opposed it from the beginning, reports that "the
bishops and preachers in general showed a disposition to drop it and all things belonging thereto."
Asbury even "requested that its name might not again be mentioned in the conference." "It was
tacitly abolished; it was dead," says Lee's biographer, "and he was present at its burial." It had
threatened to disown him as a preacher, because of his opposition to it. "His triumph had come, and
it was complete. He enjoyed it in silence."
In sketching the organization of the Church by the Conference of 1784, I have anticipated some
of the amendments of the Discipline, adopted at the present session, and need not repeat them. On
the first day rules for the government of the body were enacted. A committee was appointed to
prepare and report to it all its business; as, however, the debates in the committee had to be repeated
in the full assembly, it was found not to expedite, but rather retard business; it was enlarged, but at
last dismissed. The chief restrictive regulation adopted provided that two thirds of all the members
voting could abolish an old law or make a new one, but that a majority might alter or amend any
existing law.
[7]
The first day was spent in considering the rules of the house. On the second, O'Kelly introduced
a motion affecting radically the power of the episcopate, and indirectly reflecting on the
administration of Asbury; it absorbed all attention for nearly a week, so that the revision of the
Discipline, and the most needed legislation of the session, did not begin till Tuesday the 6th. The
excited debates were relieved by extraordinary religious services on Sunday, when Coke preached
"a delightful sermon" on Rom. viii, 16 -- the "Witness of the Spirit" -- which was printed by order
of the conference. O'Kelly, who was one of the most commanding men of the itinerancy, preached
in the afternoon on Luke xvii, 5: "The apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith." "The power
[8]
of the Lord attended the word," says a hearer. At night Henry Willis, the most endeared to Asbury
of all the itinerants of that day, preached on Psalm xcv, 10, 11, [Psa 95:10-11 Forty years long was
I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not
known my ways: 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. -inserted
by DVM] probably with reference to the strifes of the period against the bishop, for Willis
defended him and opposed O'Kelly in the conference debates. Meanwhile there was daily preaching
in the city and vicinity, and a general "revival" kindled, for there were many of the preachers who
cared more for the prosperity of the Churches than for the controversies of the conference.
On Tuesday of the second week began the revision of the Discipline. Regular General
Conferences were ordained, and the Annual Conferences were distinguished, from these quadrennial
assemblies, by the title of "District Conferences," as it was determined to hold one of them for each
[9]
presiding elder's district, their limits to be defined by the bishops, "yet so as not to include more
than twelve, nor less than three circuits in each district." The bishops had also power to appoint the
times of their sessions. The character of a "supernumerary preacher" was for the first time stated; he
is "one who is so worn out in the itinerant service as to be rendered incapable of preaching
constantly, but is willing to do any work in the ministry which the conference may direct and his
strength enable him to perform." Provision was made for the election, ordination, and trial of
bishops. The office of Presiding Elder took, for the first time, a definitive form, and the title appears
[10]
for the first time in the Discipline. The Order of Elders was provided in the organization of the
Church of 1784; as Wesley, however, had requested that as few candidates as were absolutely